Central students’ safety placed in bond voters’ hands

Published: October 29, 2024

During recess, Monmouth Elementary students play under the covered walkways that connect their classrooms. Each classroom has its own door that must be kept locked during class because there is no way to prevent strangers from approaching. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)

Fourth grader Aspen Flesch doesn't really like the big windows lining one wall of her Monmouth Elementary School classroom. During lockdown drills, she doesn't feel safe, she said.

Central School District leaders don't think the California-style school built in 1963 is great for safety either, with no interior hallways and more than 40 doors from the outside to student spaces. Parents have already expressed concerns and even switched schools, according to Principal Kim Seidel.

The Central School District is seeking a $90 million bond in the Nov. 5 election to replace the Monmouth Elementary School, which has more problems than just safety. The bond proposal also features needed facilities upgrades for all the schools in the Monmouth and Independence communities southwest of Salem.

"I think we have to remember that, in the state of Oregon, this is the only way we can improve our facilities," Central School Board Chair Donn Wahl says on the district's website. "We can't save up, we can't pay cash for it, so we have to (ask for a bond)."

In Oregon, the school funding system is designed to just pay for annual staff, supplies and routine maintenance. Districts can set aside money for smaller projects that come along every few years, such as resurfacing a gym floor, but it's simply not feasible to save the tens of millions required for a new school or necessary major facilities projects, said Jackie Olsen, the Oregon Association of School Business Officials executive director.

That's where bonding comes in.

"At some point, you can't just keep putting a Band-Aid over walls that are falling down," Olsen said.

School districts need their voters' permission, though, to finance a bond through a property tax.

Central is one of five Oregon school districts with a bond vote on Nov. 5 ballots. They range from the tiny Pine Eagle School District east of Baker City seeking $5.4 million to the Oregon City School District south of Portland seeking $163 million. Redmond in central Oregon is asking for $97.7 million, and the Three Rivers School District of southern Oregon is seeking $39 million.

Four community colleges around the state are also seeking bonds, and the Tigard-Tualatin School District is aiming to renew a levy to pay for about 100 teaching positions.

Relying on bonds to pay for facilities creates a disparity in Oregon learning environments, Olsen said. Some districts can pass bonds regularly while others have been unable to pass a bond for decades, if ever. Some districts have a tax base that allows levies that cost just a few dollars a household per month, while others have tax bases so small they could not reasonably ever raise enough money for a new school

The result is that some districts offer shining new learning facilities designed with safety and best-education practices in mind. They feature the latest technology, environmental systems and added touches to create palaces of learning.

Meanwhile, just down the road, sometimes even in the same district, less fortunate schools are putting out buckets for leaking roofs in schools that were last considered modern before electricity was common in households.

Oregon school buildings average more than 40 years old, according to the Oregon Department of Education, and districts such as Central are still using schools that are a century old or more.

"We have to address the problem of the inequitable distribution of high-quality learning facilities in Oregon," said Efren Zamudio, OSBA Legislative Services specialist.

Zamudio said OSBA will be working with other education advocates to raise the issue during the 2025 legislative session.

Unlike some states, Oregon offers little dedicated funding for facilities. OSBA, hearing from members the need for billions in facility updates, helped push the establishment of the Oregon School Capital Improvement Matching Program in 2015. OSCIM, usually pronounced "awesome," provides up to $12 million in matching grants if a district passes a bond.

Central will receive $6 million from OSCIM if its bond passes. The OSCIM program has distributed hundreds of millions, but it is of no use to districts that can't pass a bond.

"It has been remarkably successful, and our board members would like to see a greater investment in the program in 2025," said Zamudio. "But for districts unable to gain voter approval for a bond, there are few supports in place." Some districts have turned to the Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program. Districts such as Powers have been able to pair facility work with seismic projects to get more bang for their bucks. But most districts are left trying to figure out how big a bond proposal their community can swallow.

Central voters rejected a bond proposal in 2016 even though it wasn't expected to raise property taxes, and the district last passed a bond in 2008. Before that it had been able to pass bonds pretty regularly.

Wahl said a facilities review and discussions with community have shown the districts' needs are beginning to pile up.

"We have to look at our facilities and ask if they are adequate for educating our kids in a safe and effective manner," Wahl said.

The bond proposal includes plans to:

· Replace the Central High School roof.

· Modernize heating and cooling systems at Ash Creek and Independence elementaries.

· Upgrade athletic fields and playgrounds, some of which are unusable once it rains.

· Address safety and security at all schools.

Monmouth Elementary, which is outdated and overcrowded, is the big project, though.

Covered walkways open to the elements connect classrooms that each have a door opening to the outside. With no interior hallways or a central entrance, it's challenging to keep track of students if they leave classes and any adults who might come onto the unfenced campus.

Safety is the main issue, but Principal Seidel said the school has a host of other issues that make it more difficult to provide a positive learning environment and even to recruit staff.

Monmouth third grader King Robinson loves his school, especially the teachers. But he knows some schools have more.

"It's a little unfair because sometimes they have a little bit more technology than we do," he said, sitting around a table with some fellow students who agree their school is great except for the playground.

When told about the bond vote, Robinson offered a message to voters: "If we have more money, we will have a better school, and if we have a better school, more people will come and more people will be smart and have jobs and enough money when they are older."

- Jake Arnold, OSBA
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